Sunday, August 12, 2007

edgerton

Edgerton was a sculptural installation created at the Massachusetts College of Art in the spring of 2007. This work was created in response to a project called "materials/action" in my 3D foundation class. The project is based on Richard Serra's process that work could be generated through the simple selection of a material articulating one action or state. In my project, I used expandable insulation foam to articulate "of splashing". This piece was viewed under a pulsating cyan strobe light, but the light sensor on the camera went crazy and the true documentation was impossible. The strobe light was metaphoric of Harold Edgerton's high-speed stroboscopic photography, most notably the famous milk crown (which I used to articulate "of splashing"). The splash is somewhat literal with the floor piece. This piece was quite transient with the strobe. I stumbled upon some very interesting visual phenomenon. All of the pieces spin, and the pulsation of the strobe created a stutter effect with all of the holes of the hollow sculptures. Stepping into the space was like leaving this world. I spent quite some time experimenting with the relationship of my body and mind to the space. I found that running around the floor piece while focusing on the center circle had a profound visual/perceptual distortion. Because of the strobe, the visuals would rotate slower the real time that we are so comfortable with. Everything moved awkwardly, and it was disorienting. I spent the night running in hallucinatory circles with my friends and professors. This piece was only up for the one night, but I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. The short life of this piece really helped me to embrace the emphemeral quality of this type of work.